Mediterranean Explorer: Greece, Italy & Spain Vacation

Our travel agent was good when it came to being available and responsive, she stuck with our budget had ideas of where to go and what to do. Her husband was also nice and happened to meet us in Rome and was able to make us reservations at a great restaurant. the hotels we were at were at central locations which was nice and convenient. she had good tips and tricks as well for each of the cities. 

We had a few issues though, in Rome the tour guide did not meet us on time and did not have us on their schedule, they did scramble and we did not miss our tour. In Sorrento our tour to capri was cancelled which was not her fault, the guide said it was due to weather but then next day it was nice and sunny and we saw other tour boats go out, but we never got a phone call that day to go out. that was a disappointment, we still went to capri on our own though. In Greece, our sunset tour in Mykonos was late and that scared us since we had the mishap in Rome, but we were still on our tour. 

some suggestions for our agent would be to update her restaurant recommendations, some places did need reservations when she did not mention it, and some places had a new chef. some of her tour guides were not the people she had said it would be, especially our driver for the amalfi coast, who mostly drove us to places, he was not too informative about the coast as she had described, so much so that i fell asleep during the drive! and a few of her tour guides she scheduled for us, did not follow the itinerary to a tee, and left us a bit early 45min to an hour, which i believe we paid for the full time. and our guide in athens, took a smoke break a few times and said she had an 'emergency'

This past winter I was put in charge of planning a trip to Italy for my husband and myself, my sister, my mother and my mother’s fianc. I had no idea how I was going to accomplish this given everyone’s different tastes, opinions, their prior experiences in Italy, and my inexperience in planning Europe vacations. Feeling overwhelmed, I started searching for a travel agent and through zicasso I was paired with this Italy travel agent. After one conversation with her I knew she could plan us the trip of a lifetime, one that everyone would love. She did not disappoint. On the last day of the trip, my entire family was singing her praises and saying this was the best vacation and the easiest travel experience they had ever had.  

We started our trip in Florence, and from there we did a day trip to Venice, San Gimignano, a cooking class in Tuscany and a wine tasting in Chianti. The cooking class was a huge highlight of the trip. My family loved the experience and we met amazing people. We have already recreated some of the amazing recipes at home as well. We then spent a few days in Rome seeing the city and Vatican and ended in Sorrento on the Amalfi coast.  

The trip was beautifully planned with the perfect mix of site seeing and relaxing activities, so that we didn’t feel as if it was rushed or chaotic. We were also met by a driver in every city and guided through every step of our journey. They were all welcoming, incredibly knowledgeable and so helpful. It made our entire 12 days completely stress free. One person who deserves special mention is our driver who met us in Florence. He immediately felt like part of the family, and we were sad to leave him when we left for Rome.  

Moreover, our agent did a phenomenal job choosing hotels. They were all smaller boutique hotels that were charming and beautiful. Each accommodation had an amazing location. I am sure that I could not have done a better job if I had spent a year online trying to find a place to stay. 

Our agent and her staff did an amazing job and in the future, if my husband and I return to Italy or Greece, she will be the first person I call.

My wife and I have wanted to travel to Italy for almost a decade, so picking the right travel agent was a very important step for us. Zicasso connected us with several agencies. We ultimately selected this company and worked with this travel agent to plan our trip. We could not have been more pleased with our experience.

One of the reasons we selected this travel agent was because she was based out of Italy. We felt more comfortable with someone living in the country as opposed to a travel agent who had simply visited Italy. Her expertise definitely improved many aspects of our trip. Our must-haves included a multi-night stay in Rome and Pompeii. Our agent crafted a 11-day vacation for us that included Rome, Pompeii, Sorrento, Matera, and Puglia. Each detail of our trip was planned perfectly.

We were picked up by private automobile transport at the airport and had private tours through almost our entire trip. Our tour groups ranged in size from just us to 10 people. The tour guides that our agent selected were incredibly knowledgeable and personable. They were enthusiastic and clearly very passionate about their tours. She also recommended a variety of restaurants and made reservations for us for every evening we were in Italy. She offered options for each day and we were able to select the tours that best suited our interests (Roman Catacombs, Food tour, Jewish Ghetto, etc.). We had 4-star accommodations throughout the trip. Not only were all the hotels great, they were in perfect locations in the center of the cities we visited.

When it was time to travel to Sorrento, our agent arranged travel by train and then private automobile pickup to our final destinations. We spent a day in Sorrento, another day in Capri, and our last day touring the Amalfi coast. We were able to take a boat tour around Capri and visit multiple cities along Amalfi. We tried our first ever Michelin rated restaurant and it was delicious. We couldn't believe that she arranged for a private driver to spend 12 hours with us along the Amalfi Coast (he dropped us off at designated cities and picked us up an hour or two later).

For our next step, our agent took us off the common tourist path and had us visit Matera and Puglia. It was a great cultural contrast to Rome and Sorrento. We slept in a Grotto (hotel) in Matera and had splendid views of the country and old city. In Puglia, we visited a winery and dined along the Adriatic Sea.

It was a memorable trip that we could not have been more thankful for. During multiple times on the trip, my wife and I remarked how lucky we were to have a travel agent so knowledgeable.

Our agent called us several times to check-in on us and immediately remedied a situation where our itinerary was forced to change. We had her number 24-7 for any needs. We had a stress-free trip. We could not have planned this trip on our own, so we are grateful to have had our agent's wisdom. We had contemplated doing our own research, but we could not have recreated the magic of this trip.

When we travel to Italy again, we will definitely be using this travel company!

My husband and I, along with our 2 children (age 20 and 17), enjoyed a wonderful Italian vacation booked through Zicasso and this travel agency.  Our travel consultants listened to my ideas and arranged for us a fantastic custom itinerary.   They stayed within the budget allotted, offered choices for beautiful hotels and private tours, and made several revisions as per our request.  We departed from New York on our 25th anniversary, and spent 10 days traveling the country within the month of November.  This off-season time proved to be a great decision as reservations were easy to obtain, crowds were minimal (mostly all locals), and the weather was conducive for walking and sightseeing (average 60 degrees F).  Transportation and the personal drivers were top notch; with Mercedes SUVs or minivans to take my family from Milan-Chianti-Florence-Verona-Venice and then the high speed train down to Rome.  Accommodations arranged for us were phenomenal!  We stayed in a 12th century castle in Chianti, in the heart of the city center in Florence, and near the Spanish Steps in Rome.  The personal tour guides were friendly and knowledgable, and were happy to recommend eateries preferred by locals.  All in all, everything was flawless. We plan to return some day to see the Amalfi coast, Positano and Capri.  We would absolutely recommend these travel consultants, and the travel company team to anyone who is looking for a personalized Italian vacation.

Our family of five just got back from the most wonderful vacation in Tuscany and Rome.  Our agent crafted a set of amazing experiences for our family from the private tour guides to Florence, Pisa and Lucca; a private wine tasting lunch at the Capannelle Winery and vineyards in Chianti; tickets to the Papal mass at the Vatican; to a tour beneath the church of San Clemente to see the excavations of a byzantine and then a Roman street neighborhood; a day excursion to the Amalfi coast to visit Positano, Sorrento and Pompeii; and more! Our agent and the guides found excellent restaurants from a simple salumeria where the locals ate to some high end restaurants.  The hotels were right in the center of Florence – on the piazza della Repubblica - and Rome – between the Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps.  Our agent was attentive to our plans and made excellent suggestions.  Everything went extremely smoothly.  All the guides drivers were very friendly, spoke English and were very knowledgeable about art, history and the local culture.  We saw so much every day because everything was so well planned.  Simply the best travel experience ever!